Psalms 69:25

69:25 May their camp become desolate,

their tents uninhabited! ¹ 

Psalms 109:9-15

109:9 May his children ²  be fatherless,

and his wife a widow!

109:10 May his children ³  roam around begging,

asking for handouts as they leave their ruined home! ⁴ 

109:11 May the creditor seize ⁵  all he owns!

May strangers loot his property! ⁶ 

109:12 May no one show him kindness! ⁷ 

May no one have compassion ⁸  on his fatherless children!

109:13 May his descendants ⁹  be cut off! ¹⁰ 

May the memory of them be wiped out by the time the next generation arrives! ¹¹ 

109:14 May his ancestors’ ¹²  sins be remembered by the Lord!

May his mother’s sin not be forgotten! ¹³ 

109:15 May the Lord be constantly aware of them, ¹⁴ 

and cut off the memory of his children ¹⁵  from the earth!

Zechariah 5:3-4

5:3 The speaker went on to say, “This is a curse ¹⁶  traveling across the whole earth. For example, according to the curse whoever steals ¹⁷  will be removed from the community; or on the other hand (according to the curse) whoever swears falsely will suffer the same fate.” 5:4 “I will send it out,” says the Lord who rules over all, “and it will enter the house of the thief and of the person who swears falsely in my name. It will land in the middle of his house and destroy both timber and stones.”

¹ tn Heb “in their tents may there not be one who dwells.”

² tn Or “sons.”

³ tn Or “sons.”

⁴ tn Heb “and roaming, may his children roam and beg, and seek from their ruins.” Some, following the LXX, emend the term וְדָרְשׁוּ (vÿdoreshu, “and seek”) to יְגֹרְשׁוּ (yÿgoreshu; a Pual jussive, “may they be driven away” [see Job 30:5; cf. NIV, NRSV]), but דָּרַשׁ (darash) nicely parallels שִׁאֵלוּ (shi’elu, “and beg”) in the preceding line.

⁵ tn Heb “lay snares for” (see Ps 38:12).

⁶ tn Heb “the product of his labor.”

⁷ tn Heb “may there not be for him one who extends loyal love.”

⁸ tn Perhaps this refers to being generous (see Ps 37:21).

⁹ tn Or “offspring.”

¹⁰ sn On the expression cut off see Ps 37:28.

¹¹ tn Heb “in another generation may their name be wiped out.”

¹² tn Or “fathers’ sins.”

¹³ tn Heb “not be wiped out.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “may they [that is, the sins mentioned in v. 14] be before the Lord continually.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “their memory.” The plural pronominal suffix probably refers back to the children mentioned in v. 13, and for clarity this has been specified in the translation.

¹⁶ tn The Hebrew word translated “curse” (אָלָה, ’alah) alludes to the covenant sanctions that attend the violation of God’s covenant with Israel (cf. Deut 29:12, 14, 20-21).

¹⁷ sn Stealing and swearing falsely (mentioned later in this verse) are sins against mankind and God respectively and are thus violations of the two major parts of the Ten Commandments. These two stipulations (commandments 8 and 3) represent the whole law.